Resoldering process.



" G. VAN MOORE. RESOLDERING PRUCESS.

APPLICATION man FEB. 23. ms. 1,150,560,, Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

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5 6 V J J 5 J W I f 5 m 7 1 J V r i 1 fl GEORGE VAN MOORE, OF NEW YORK,N. Y.

RESOLDERING PROCESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

Application filed February 23, 1915. Serial No. 10,086.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I. GEORGE VAN MOORE, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York, in the county of Bronx and State of New York, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Resoldering Processes, of whichthe following is a specification.

The repairing of leaking ice cans is a problem which many have tried tosolve. As the cheapest and most economic way of getting over thisdifficulty, some dip the bottom of the can in hot pitch, others paintthe seams with tar or with white or red lead or other paints, and othershave called in tinsmiths who have attempted repair by soldering. Of thenumerous coating preparations put upon the market for this purpose, nonehas ever been known to serve the intended purpose satisfactorily, norhas an ice can ever been repaired by the ordinary soldering method sothat it would hold. These modes will only last a few freezings and thenthe can Will leak worse than ever.

The present invention has reference to a process of restoring leaky icecans to a condition even superior to that in which they originally camefrom the manufacturer. This superiority is the result of the removal ofthat factor in the cans as manufactured which, in the first instancecaused them to leak soon after being put into service, and

in the second instance, rendered repair bythe aforementioned modesimpossible.

In describing the process and its performance, reference will be had tothe accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification andwherein like characters of reference designate corresponding partsthroughout the several views, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional View of a fragment of an ice can asproduced by the manufacturer, Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of twopieces of galvanized iron soldered together andillustrating the efi'ectof forcibly separating them, Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 with theold or original solder melted out of the seam, Fig. 4 is a view similarto Fig. 3 with the galvanizin in the vicinity of the seam removed, Fig.is a view similar to Fig. 4; with the seam refilled with solder. Fig. 6is a vertical sectional view of apparatus employed in the performance ofthe process, and ig. 7 is a sectional detail of part of said apparatus.

In the drawing, reference numerals 1 and 2 respectively indicate theside and bottom walls of an ice can constructed of black iron. Asproduced by the manufacturer, the can has its black iron wallsgalvanized on both sides, though in the accompanying drawing, theoutside galvanizing is eliminated as having no bearing on the presentinvention, and only the inside galvanizing 3 is illustrated. The seamsof a can are usually rlveted as at 4, though other binding may beadopted, and the seams finally filled completely with solder 5 sweatedwell into the seams.

When an ice can constructed as illustrated in Fig. '1, is put intoservice, either in the freezing of new ice, or in what is known asrefreezing, expansion is outward, and the force of expansion is so greatthat often the can will become buckled to such an extent that a specialmechanical operation becomes necessary to restore the canto its originalshape. When a can expands, particularly to the extent of buckling, thepresent day construction of the can is such that its soldered seam givesway and leaking occurs. The most natural thing for the ice manufacturerto do toward repairing the can is to attempt resoldering, but efforts inthis direction have never passed beyond the attempt, for the very reasonthat the element that permitted the original soldering to give way isstill present in the can, as will soon be described. The next resort,when resoldering by the common tinsmith method fails, is for the icemanufacturer to paint the seams with tar, pitch, white or red lead, orother paint preparations intended as remedial agents for this problem.These, likewise, always fail, never serving effectively beyond a veryfew freezings. The ice manufacturer, whether his leaky cans have beentemporarily repaired by soldering or painting, must, at great expenseand annoyance due to the loss of the use of the cans while undergoingrepair, continue treatment of his leaky cans by these two ineifectivemethods until the cans are ready to be scrapped, as the plant cannot,except at great expense, be reequipped with new cans. It can readily beseen, therefore, that leaky cans and their repair becomes a problem withthe ice manufacturer which has never heretofore been satisfactorilysolved.

The reason a new ice can soon leaks after being put into service isbecause of the pres-- ence of the galvanizing, and yet the galvanizingis an absolute necessity in an ice can.

A new can could not be soldered first on the black iron and thengalvanized, as a defect would exist where the solder and galvanizing metand at this point, the black iron would soon be eaten through by themany elements, such assalt and various gases, present in an icemanufactory.

In Fig. 2, the effect of the expansion of the can body upon the solderedgalvanized black iron at the seam is illustrated. Reference characters 1and 2* correspond to the black iron side and bottom respectively of thecan as illustrated in the other views, and 3 and 5 to the galvanizingand solder respectively thereof. Two pieces of galvanized black ironsoldered together, when forcibly separated will appear as in this Fig.2. In some instances (not shown) the solder 5* will peel from thegalvanizing 3 3, but in a great many and probably most instances thesolder will adhere to both galvanized coatings 3, 3 and while thegalvanized coating of one piece, say 2, willnot separate from its base,the solder adhering to said galvanized coating will pull with it thegalvanized coating from the other piece or base 1. At other spots, thegalvanizing will leave piece or base 2* and be carried by the solderwith the galvanizing of the other piece or base 1. This is exactly whattakes place soon after a new can is put into use. The expansion causesthe galvanizing of either side 1 or bottom 2 to peel off with or fromthe solder. In either event, it can be readily understood that thegalvanizing within the soldered seam is responsible for the leaking ofthe can. Likewise, efforts, bestowed in repairing the can of Fig. l bypresent soldering methods must fail for the same reason that theoriginal soldering by the can manufacturer fails.

In solving this problem, it has been discovered as a natural answer tothe foregoing that the galvanizing must be removed, but only where it isnot necessary to the protection of the black iron body of the can. Thisremoval must, therefore, be within the seam, whether it be a bottom orside seam of the can, and obviously no mechanical means could be devisedto remove this galvanizing from within the seams. The means employed ischemical in conjunction with certain mechanical steps. Toward this end,the old solder is melted out of the seam leaving the can as illustratedin Fig. 3, it being immaterial whether or not the melted solder remainswithin the can or not. In the actual performance of the method as nowpractised, however, the solder remains within the can for reuse, the canbeing tilted to run the melted out solder from one end to 4 the other ofthe seam while the exposed portion of the seam is having its galvanizingremoved in a manner to be described. Before the original solder ismelted out of the seam, the seam is flooded with 22 muriatic acid, withor without ammonium chlorid, to render the parts clean. After thesoldering tool has been applied to melt out the original solder and thelatter issues from the seam, the seam is flooded with 22 muriatic acidand ammonium chlorid. Vere the black iron walls 1 and and the galvanizedcoating thereof cold hen the strong muriatic acid and ammonium wasapplied, no immediate attack thereof on the galvanizing would benoticeable, and the process practised in this manner would not becommercially practical. It is to be remembered, however, ,'that the heatfrom the step of melting out the original solder is still present, andunder the influence thereof the chemicals immediately, as soon as theremoval of the original solder exposes the galvanizing, attack thegalvanizing, completely destroying and removing the same from within theseam. Fig. 4: illustrates the condition of the ice can at this stage,the galvanizing within the seam and partly beyond the same beingcompletely removed, leaving the black iron walls 1 and 2 exposed.

If necessary, an additional amount of solder may be added to the oldsolder melted out preparatory to resoldering the seam, but before thissolder is sweated into the seam, the molten solder isfiowed fromone endto the other of the seam to expose all portions of the seam to theaction of the chemicals to insure perfect decomposition or destructionof the galvanizing. This be: ing assured, the molten solder is flowedover the entire seam and by the application of a soldering tool iscompletely sweated into the seam as at 6 in Fig. 5, where it forms aperfect bond directly with the black iron walls 1 and 2 withoutinterposition of galvanizing to peel away and prompt leaking when thecan is put into service. The fluxing chemicals, or the acid alone ifdestruction of the galvanizing has been determined, are again applied toassist in the final filling of the seam with the solder, and thischemical or chemicals cause the solder to adhere to the black metal.such adherence being prompted by the chemical or chemicals forming withthe decomposing galvanizingwhich is usually zinca coating for the blackiron as will insure perfect bond between such black iron and the solder.Thus the essential portion of the galvanizing remains untouched and oulxthat portion removed as originally caused the solder in the new can togive way.

In summary, the principle of the resoldering process is that theoriginal solder is melted out, the galvanizing removed from the blackiron. the black iron prepared for reception of the solder. and the newsolder flowed into the seam into bond with the black metal, virtually ina single operation.

. illustrated in Fig.

This is accounted that from the first to the last of the performance,the seam is heated, this heat being applied in the melting out step andlater applied in the resoldering step, and the heat from both of thesesteps overlapping the intermediate step of decomposing the galvanizingand rendering such intermediate step commercially practical. Not onlythis maintained heat is carried intoall of the steps of the process asan essential factor, but the chemical employed performs in each step avery essential function, namely; in the first step, of cleaning theoriginally soldered seam and everything in its vicinity of foreignmatter; in the intermediate step of attacking the galvanizing under theinfluence of the heat to decompose the galvanizing within the seam andprepare the black metal to receive new solder; and in the final step, ofcausing the returned or new solder to properly adhere to the black iron.Any salt or other foreign matter within the seam, due to leakingthereof, will be quickly decomposed under the action of the chemical andheat.

When the heat from the soldering iron passes to the muriatic acid andammonium chlorid, one or both, asphyxial fumes in the form of visiblevapor arise, and were no provision made to take care of the same theywould completely envelop the operator and render performance of thisprocess absolutely impossible. In operating on side seams of a can, thecan is laid on its side as illustrated in Fig. 6, and a flue pipe 8having a goose-neck 9 to direct the fumes away from the operator isattached to the can by means of a clip 10, said clipbeing carried bysaid flue 8 and serving to hold the flue pipe 8 always against the side,or nearly so, of the ice can. A compressed air pipe is secured on theside of the flue pipe 8 and has a goose-neck 11 extending around onewall of the end of the flue pipe 8 and its nozzle end extended into theflue pipe 8, as 7. The air issuing from the end of the nozzle portion 11into the flue pipe 8 causes the deadly fumes generated within the icecan to take the path described by the arrows in Fig. 6 and to be removedfrom within the can and prevented from enveloping the operator orinconveniently obscuring his view of that portion of the seam, side orbottom, on which he may be working. In operating on bottom seams, thecan is stood on end and the goose-neck 9 replaced by an angular sectionindicated in dotted lines in Fig. 6 and directed away from the operator.

In melting out the solder, of the zinc galvanizing with it, and whilethe zinc is hot, the chemical cuts the galvanizing out of the meltedsolder and attacks the remaining galvanizing coating on it carries partfor by reason of the fact the iron leaving a muriate coating on thelIOIl.

What is claimed:

1. A process of soldering seams in gal vanized iron articles, consistingin: clearing the seam to expose the galvanizing; heating the seam;applying a fluxing and galvanizing-removing chemical to the seam whilethe latter is hot to remove the galvanizing from the iron within theseam and to prepare the exposed iron for the reception of solder; and insweating solder into the prepared seam.

2. A process of resoldering seams in galvanized iron articles,consisting in; melting out the original solder from the seam to exposethe galvanizing; while the seam is hot from the melting out stepapplying muriatic acid and ammonium chlorid to destroy the galvanizingso exposed and to prepare the iron from which the galvanizing is removedfor the reception of solder; and in sweating solder into the seam.

3 A process of soldering seams in galvanized iron articles, consistingin; clearing the seam to expose the galvanizing; heating the seam;applying muriatic acid and ammonium chlorid to the seam to destroy thegalvanizing so exposed and to prepare the iron from which thegalvanizing is removed for the reception of solder; and in sweatingsolder into the seam.

4.. A process of soldering seams in galvanized iron ice cans and thelike, consisting in; clearing the seam to expose the galvanizing;heating the seam; applying a fluxing and galvanizing-removing agent tothe seam while the seam is hot to remove the galvanizing from the ironwithin the seam and to prepare the exposed iron for the reception ofsolder; sweating solder into the prepared seam; and in removing thevisible asphyxial fumes arising within the can in a manner to preventthem from being breathed by the operator and to prevent them frommaterially obscuring the seam upon which the operator is working.

5. A process of resoldering seams in galvanized ice cans and the like,consisting in; melting out the original solder from the seam; while theseam is hot in flooding the seam with muriatic acid at approximately 22test in the presence of ammonium chlorid; and in sweating solder intothe seam so treated.

6. A process of resoldering seams in galvanized iron cans and the like,consisting in; melting out the original solder from the seam; runningthe molten solder to one end of the seam to expose the other end of theseam; flooding the exposed portion of the seam with agalvanizing-removing agent which functions more rapidly under theinfluence of heat; running the molten solder to the other end of theseam and flooding the exposed portion of the seam with said agent;

and finally in returning the molten solder over the seam and sweating itthereinto and into intimate adherence with the iron Within the seam fromwhich iron the galvanizing has been removed.

7. A process of soldering seams in galvanized iron articles, consistingin destroying the galvanizing within the seam by a chemical agent whichcombines with the galvanizing to form a solder-receptive deposit on thede-galvanized iron, and in melting solder into the prepared seam- 8. Aprocess of re-soldering seams in galvanized iron articles, consisting inmelting out the original solder which carries with it part of thegalvanized coating, applying a chemical agent while the iron is hot tocut out the galvanizing from the melted ont solder and to destroy thegalvanizing w1th1n the seam, said chemical agent combining with thegalvanizing out out of the seam to form a solder-receptive deposit onthe degalvam'zed iron, and in melting solder into the prepared seam.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

J ULIAETTA VAN Mooim, WILLIAM W. DEANE.

